Source: http://www.natlawreview.com, May 21, 2015 By: Thomas J. Pryor, Stark & Stark A unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court opinion has affirmed the rights of an aggrieved plaintiff to recover counsel fees incurred in prosecuting relief through a declaratory judgment; enforcing a duty to defend owed by a general liability carrier to a contractor defendant in […]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, May 21, 2015 Posted on: http://fpn.advisen.com The San Francisco Bay Area, like Santa Barbara, is home to a vast network of oil pipelines that could easily rupture and cause the same kind of disastrous spill that is blackening the Southern California coast. A large pipeline next to Refugio State Beach in […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, May 20, 2015 By: Gerald F. George, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP On May 19, a district court ruled that a company had established divisibility for its liability at a major downstream segment of the Fox River mega-site in Wisconsin, capping its liability for that segment at 28%. This same court had initially held that the company, […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, May 20, 2015 By: Alexander J. Bandza, Jenner & Block Last week, the New Jersey Assembly unanimously passed a bill, A4258, which is notably broad in its language on allocating liability and damages for releases of hazardous substances from offshore drilling platforms.  The bill would supplement N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11, the New Jersey Spill Compensation and […]

Source: http://www.sltrib.com, May 20, 2015 By: Brian Maffly Before Big West Oil LLC acquired its North Salt Lake refinery in 1986, the plant’s former operator dumped or spilled numerous hazardous wastes at the site, a once-common practice that became closely regulated in the early 1980s under new federal laws. Those forgotten chemical sludges have continued […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, May 18, 2015 By: Thomas P. Wert, Roetzel & Andress Recently, a Florida appellate court weighed in on the kind of evidence necessary to prove loss of use damages on a construction project as a result of delays caused by an architect’s defective design. Gonzalez v. Barrenechea, 2015 WL 1940784 (Fla. 3d DCA, April […]

Source: http://www.stltoday.com, May 20, 2015 The Granite City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday night requiring owners of property where methamphetamine was manufactured to abate or clean the property. If owners don’t do so, the city will go to court to get an order allowing the city to abate or demolish the building, vehicle or […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, May 20, 2015 By: Daniel J. Greenberg, Smith Currie & Hancock Non-traditional project delivery methods are being increasingly used in construction projects, and these delivery methods can bring non-traditional insurance risks. Non-traditional project delivery methods may require project participants, such as designers, contractors and owners, to hold additional types of insurance to guard […]

Source: http://enr.construction.com, May 19, 2015 By: Scott Judy Contractors and insurers involved with a $22.5-million Miami Dade College parking garage project that partially collapsed during construction in October 2012 have agreed to pay the school roughly $26.5 million to rebuild the entire structure, according to a settlement reached May 6. Additionally, the contractors forgave an […]

Source: http://www.timesherald.com, May 19, 2015 By: Eric Devlin Phoenixville School District officials say contaminated soil found at the site of its incoming elementary school is being removed safely. “It’s not like some toxic waste dump,” school board member Ken Butera said at Thursday night’s meeting. Four weeks ago, environmental experts discovered elevated levels of the […]

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com, May 19, 2015 By: Nicholas Nehamas A luxury condo tower in Brickell has found defective Chinese drywall in 29 of its units — and will have to pay $3.3 million to have it removed and replaced. Defective drywall is strongly associated with the release of foul-smelling sulfurous gases that damage building materials, appliances, […]

Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 15, 2015 Posted on: http://constfpn.advisen.com A design flaw may have led to the fatal collapse of a pedestrian bridge during construction at Wake Tech’s Northern Campus in November, the state Department of Labor found. The Nov. 13 collapse killed one worker and hurt four. A second, similar bridge […]